OMAHA — A long-vacant property near Omaha’s riverfront is to come alive with a nearly $12 million residential condo project that stands out, in part, for the timing as well as a garage-top swimming pool.

The five-story “Riverplace” is believed to be the first new construction condominium structure set to rise downtown in more than a decade.

Milestone Development is asking the City of Omaha to approve $2 million in tax-increment financing, saying the public subsidy is needed to help offset expenses associated with environmental and other constraints.

According to Milestone’s Alex Jensen, the 17 mostly two-bedroom upscale condos are to be sold in the range of $650,000 to $925,000.

Despite the recent preference of private developers to build market-rate rental apartments in the urban core, Jensen said his team knew early on it wanted to offer for-sale housing.

The development team believes the time has come for such new housing of that type in a downtown area growing with a tri-park overhaul and other new public amenities and entertainment venues including the proposed street car route.

Neighbors of the proposed Riverplace site that spans about an acre at 520 Riverfront Plaza include owner-occupied residences in the two Riverfront Place condo towers and a strip of row houses along Riverfront Drive.

To the north is the Gallup regional campus, and to the west is the CHI Health Center arena and convention hall.

“The neighborhood is very active, and we think they’d appreciate more new and permanent neighbors to the area,” said Jensen. “We like for-sale products and think there is demand and very little of that supply downtown.”

He said the condo project, which would start to rise as early as April, should bring a “nice change of pace” for home seekers that now mostly have older, rehabbed buildings to pick from if they want to buy downtown.

Indeed, available real estate records show the last sizable brand new condo project to open downtown was in 2011 — that was the Riverfront Place II tower, which abuts the Milestone site.

A smattering of other condo dwellings added since then to the downtown living scene are, for the most, in historic buildings.

Among those: residences built atop the renovated Logan Hotel at 18th and Dodge Streets, and a handful of homes carved out of the historic Swartz-Driscoll commercial building near 15th and Leavenworth Streets.

Other spots in or around downtown recently were envisioned as for-sale units, until plans fizzled. For example, townhouses to be built southeast of 10th and Pierce Streets instead came as rental apartments in 2020.

The old O’Keefe Elevator headquarters at 14th and Jones Streets reopened this year as a co-warehousing facility after a deal for million-dollar condo lofts fell through.

On the Iowa side of the riverfront, marketing launched in 2018 for a 15-story condo tower, but that plan has been doused.

Brad Soderwall of Houston-based Hines real estate company told the Nebraska Examiner in August that a potential residential tower on the redeveloped Conagra campus most likely would be more apartments,not condos. That riverfront tower could start, he said, after completion of downtown’s 375-apartment Brickline at the Mercantile.

“The more attractive investment type has been apartments,” Soderwall said.

According to city planning documents, the land on which the proposed Riverplace condos are to be built has development and environmental constraints that raise the need for the public tax-increment financing subsidy. The Planning Board this Wednesday is to consider the TIF request.

Under TIF, which is an economic development tool approved by the Nebraska Legislature, property tax revenue generated by new development in a blighted area can be directed to cover eligible expenses incurred by a developer. The city approves the TIF amount, the developer obtains a loan, and after a loan period of generally 15 or 20 years, the property tax revenue from the project then starts flowing to traditional recipients such as school districts and local governments.

Ryan Kuehl of Investors Realty, who brokered the sale from the previous land owner to Milestone, said perhaps the greatest site challenge is a large sewer easement that bisects the property.

Also, a clay cap covers the ground as a result of cleanup efforts at what formerly was an industrial area with lead contaminated soil.

The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, as a result, must review Milestone’s riverfront area plans in part to ensure that construction won’t resurface problem dirt.

Jensen said that the challenges led to a uniquely-shaped footprint for the condos structure designed by Omaha TACKarchitects. The ground level will be occupied by parking, he said, and the garage on the north end nearest the Gallup parking lot will be topped with a swimming pool.

He knows of no other condo project in the downtown area with a pool.

Living space will be on upper floors; some condos will stretch two stories. The residences are to range in size from 1,400 square feet to 2,200 square feet, Jensen said, adding that Riverplace homes will have plenty of outdoor living space, terraces and access to the rooftop.

City planning documents said that with park updates and the developing Kiewit Luminarium science museum, the Milestone property is one of the last remaining lots in that riverfront neighborhood. The area is to benefit also from planned extension of the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian bridge over Riverfront Drive and the Union Pacific Railroad tracks to a spot on 10th Street.

Milestone has developed other urban core residential projects, including both new and renovated, for-sale and rental complexes. Jensen said the latest venture, if all goes as planned, could open in late 2024.

“It will be a great addition to the riverfront and the neighborhood,” Jensen said. “We think it will liven this area up a lot.”

This story was originally published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. It is part of the national nonprofit States Newsroom. Find more at nebraskaexaminer.com.